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Great Sphinx of Giza
The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion.
The monument was sculpted from the limestone bedrock of the Eocene-aged Mokattam Formation and faces east on the Giza Plateau, on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt, the Sphinx is part of the Memphite Necropolis and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Archaeological evidence suggests the Sphinx was created by Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of Khufu (c. 2590–2566 BC) or Khafre (c. 2558–2532 BC). Scholars and Egyptologists believe the face of the Sphinx was carved to represent either the pharaoh Khufu or one of his sons, pharaohs Djedefre and Khafre, but a consensus has not been reached and the person(s) in whose likeness the Sphinx was carved remains in dispute.
The Sphinx has undergone multiple restorations, the most recent of which involved replacing layers of limestone blocks around the base. The monument is 73 m (240 ft) long from paw to tail, 20 m (66 ft) high from the base to the top of the head, and 19 m (62 ft) wide at its rear haunches.
The circumstances of the destruction of the Sphinx's nose are unknown, but examinations of the face have shown evidence of a deliberate act with rods or chisels. Contrary to a popular myth, the nose was not destroyed by cannonfire from Napoleon's troops during his 1798 Egyptian campaign. Sketches and drawings predating Napoleon clearly detail the missing nose, and the damage is referenced in descriptions by 15th-century historian al-Maqrīzī.
The original name the Old Kingdom creators gave the Sphinx is unknown, as the Sphinx temple, enclosure, and possibly the Sphinx itself was not completed at the time, and thus little is known about its cultural context. In the New Kingdom, the Sphinx was revered as the solar deity Hor-em-akhet (English: "Horus of the Horizon"; Hellenized: Harmachis), and the 14th century BC pharaoh Thutmose IV specifically refers to it as such in his Dream Stele.
The commonly used name "Sphinx" was given to it in classical antiquity, around 2,000 years after the commonly accepted date of its construction by reference to a Greek mythological beast with the head of a woman, a falcon, a cat, or a sheep and the body of a lion with the wings of an eagle (although, like most Egyptian sphinxes, the Great Sphinx has a man's head and no wings). The English word sphinx comes from the ancient Greek Σφίγξ (transliterated: sphinx) apparently from the verb σφίγγω (transliterated: sphingo / English: to squeeze), after the Greek sphinx who strangled anyone who failed to answer her riddle.[citation needed]
Medieval Arab writers, including al-Maqrīzī, call the Sphinx by an Arabized Coptic name Belhib (Arabic: بلهيب), Balhubah (Arabic: بلهوبه) Belhawiyya (Arabic: بلهويه), which in turn comes from Pehor (Ancient Egyptian: pꜣ-Ḥwr) or Pehor(o)n (Ancient Egyptian: pꜣ-Ḥwr(w)n), a name of the Canaanite god Hauron with whom the Sphinx was identified. It is also rendered as Ablehon on a depiction of the Sphinx made by François de La Boullaye-Le Gouz. The medieval Egyptian Arabic name is Abū il-Hawl (أبو الهول), meaning "father of terror", which may be a folk etymological reinterpretation of the name of the god Ḥwr. In other source the medieval Egyptian Arabic name is Abul-Hun.
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Great Sphinx of Giza AI simulator
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Great Sphinx of Giza
The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion.
The monument was sculpted from the limestone bedrock of the Eocene-aged Mokattam Formation and faces east on the Giza Plateau, on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt, the Sphinx is part of the Memphite Necropolis and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Archaeological evidence suggests the Sphinx was created by Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of Khufu (c. 2590–2566 BC) or Khafre (c. 2558–2532 BC). Scholars and Egyptologists believe the face of the Sphinx was carved to represent either the pharaoh Khufu or one of his sons, pharaohs Djedefre and Khafre, but a consensus has not been reached and the person(s) in whose likeness the Sphinx was carved remains in dispute.
The Sphinx has undergone multiple restorations, the most recent of which involved replacing layers of limestone blocks around the base. The monument is 73 m (240 ft) long from paw to tail, 20 m (66 ft) high from the base to the top of the head, and 19 m (62 ft) wide at its rear haunches.
The circumstances of the destruction of the Sphinx's nose are unknown, but examinations of the face have shown evidence of a deliberate act with rods or chisels. Contrary to a popular myth, the nose was not destroyed by cannonfire from Napoleon's troops during his 1798 Egyptian campaign. Sketches and drawings predating Napoleon clearly detail the missing nose, and the damage is referenced in descriptions by 15th-century historian al-Maqrīzī.
The original name the Old Kingdom creators gave the Sphinx is unknown, as the Sphinx temple, enclosure, and possibly the Sphinx itself was not completed at the time, and thus little is known about its cultural context. In the New Kingdom, the Sphinx was revered as the solar deity Hor-em-akhet (English: "Horus of the Horizon"; Hellenized: Harmachis), and the 14th century BC pharaoh Thutmose IV specifically refers to it as such in his Dream Stele.
The commonly used name "Sphinx" was given to it in classical antiquity, around 2,000 years after the commonly accepted date of its construction by reference to a Greek mythological beast with the head of a woman, a falcon, a cat, or a sheep and the body of a lion with the wings of an eagle (although, like most Egyptian sphinxes, the Great Sphinx has a man's head and no wings). The English word sphinx comes from the ancient Greek Σφίγξ (transliterated: sphinx) apparently from the verb σφίγγω (transliterated: sphingo / English: to squeeze), after the Greek sphinx who strangled anyone who failed to answer her riddle.[citation needed]
Medieval Arab writers, including al-Maqrīzī, call the Sphinx by an Arabized Coptic name Belhib (Arabic: بلهيب), Balhubah (Arabic: بلهوبه) Belhawiyya (Arabic: بلهويه), which in turn comes from Pehor (Ancient Egyptian: pꜣ-Ḥwr) or Pehor(o)n (Ancient Egyptian: pꜣ-Ḥwr(w)n), a name of the Canaanite god Hauron with whom the Sphinx was identified. It is also rendered as Ablehon on a depiction of the Sphinx made by François de La Boullaye-Le Gouz. The medieval Egyptian Arabic name is Abū il-Hawl (أبو الهول), meaning "father of terror", which may be a folk etymological reinterpretation of the name of the god Ḥwr. In other source the medieval Egyptian Arabic name is Abul-Hun.